All things considered, blaming Zaluzhny – perhaps by claiming that he should have verified alleged intelligence about the IL-76’s cargo before shooting it down in order to make this seem like an unfortunate accident – is the most politically convenient option at Zelensky and his US patron’s disposal. It could shift the blame from them to him and facilitate Zaluzhny’s replacement with the much more politically reliable Budanov without much resistance from the armed forces or civil society.
It's ofc an opportunity for groups within the Kiev regime to blame each other, as any other setback would be. But there's hardly a shortage of such incidents. The theory presented here seems far fetched.
Slightly more interesting - why would a number of second-tier MSM outlets, such as Asia Times, or RealClearWorld (an offshoot of US site RealClearPolitics, which is sort-of the Republican leaning version of Politico, typically with meaningful readership during elections), choose to syndicate Bryen's substack piece?
It's ofc an opportunity for groups within the Kiev regime to blame each other, as any other setback would be. But there's hardly a shortage of such incidents. The theory presented here seems far fetched.
Slightly more interesting - why would a number of second-tier MSM outlets, such as Asia Times, or RealClearWorld (an offshoot of US site RealClearPolitics, which is sort-of the Republican leaning version of Politico, typically with meaningful readership during elections), choose to syndicate Bryen's substack piece?
Also, on Jan 19th, the Financial Times did a possibly tongue-in-cheek fluff piece on Budanov (think Lego Batman) - which the Ukrainian dot-gov apparently got rights to republish: https://gur.gov.ua/en/content/kyrylo-budanov-the-ukrainian-military-spy-chief-who-likes-the-darkness.html